Rating: 
Summary: The Thief of Always
Review: The Thief of Always allows the reader to join Harvey Swick on his journey into Mr. Hood's Holiday House. Where every childhood wish is reality, and every day is perpetual fun. This dark fable vividly illustrates that evil can hide under a golden veil, which is unleashed by young Harvey's desire for adventure. Clive Barker shares his exquisite take on the age old societal warning: Be Careful What You Wish For.... A Must Read!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book for all different Ages
Review: This was a great book, I'm not one to read much. But when I was informed about this book I had to read it and I enjoyed it. Having the boy in the story go through a whole year in a day brought back alot of childhood memories and it was great!!!
So I guess all I could say was this was a really good book, and I would reffer it to everyone
Rating:
Summary: The Thief of Always
Review: This book was a spectacular array of excelence and wonder. It was by far one of the best pieces of literature that I have conjectured to read in all of my 12 years on this pitiful era we call earth. I found this book to be incredibly interesting. My heart was crushed upon reading the final pages of this wonderful work for I knew that my time within its grasp was diminishing. I would highly suggest this book to any and all above-average 12 year olds such as myself, and I pray that it touches you in the same magical way that it has touched me.
Rating: 
Summary: I thought it would be better..
Review: After reading all of these reviews praising this book to no end, I gave it a shot. First of all, it's very short. I didn't find it genuinely engrossing or suspensful, and I was not unhappy when I'd finished it.It's a quick, mildly entertaining read, but by no means one of the best books I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and Exciting
Review: John Glover's portrayal of such a wide variety of characters in this audio book makes the story come alive and entertain. Not as creepy and scary as some of this author's work, so it is suitable for children.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, tightly written, but not without flaws.
Review: A REVIEW to "The Thief Of Always", by BARKER, Clive; (C) 1992,
Harper Prism, mass market paperback, 226pp, ISBN 0-06-105769-X. Harvey Swick, age ten, is bored out of his skull and desparate for fun; he
is lured away by a Goblin who suddenly appears in his room one day, to a
place at the far end of town called "Holiday House", run by the mysterious
"Mr. Hood", where the days are supernaturally perfect, where the seasons
change over the course of only a few hours, and where there are no worries,
no cares -- nothing to do except to Have Fun. It is every kid's dream of
Paradise. But all is NOT as it seems at Holiday House, and a ghastly danger lurks,
ready to consume the souls of Harvey and all the other children who find
their way there. Will Harvey, alone of all the luckless children who have
succumbed previously, be the one to penetrate Holiday House's dread secrets
and defeat the evil Mr. Hood? -<*>- It is hard to disagree or to find fault with a book so filled with immortal
themes, timeless desires, primordial fears, and archetypal situations. It's
a book that gathers, in one place, elements found scattered throughout a
great many other well-known classics of children's literature; the list is
a "who's who" of children's books. It contains echoes of such classics as
"Peter Pan", "Pinnochio", "The Pied Piper of Hamlin", "Rip Van Winkle", and
even "Hansel and Gretel" -- to name only a few. It also harkens to those
horror stories which feature malevolent sentient entities masquerading as
inanimate objects (sorry, I cannot be more specific than this without giving
away part of the story). Perhaps the strongest parallel is to the ancient, traditional, generic
"Faerie-Land", in that the main location of this story shares with Faerie
its two most prominent (and most dangerous) characteristics. I can't be
more specific without giving away most of the story, but those who study
accounts of the land of Faerie ought immediately to suspect which two
characteristics I'm hinting at. Yet as marvelous as this story is, it is NOT without its faults. These
faults are not debilitating, but they are important. I am informed that this
is Mr. Barker's first children's book: well, as a collector and avid reader
of children's books for many years, I am very sorry to say that it SHOWS.
May Mr. Barker heed the following points when he writes his NEXT children's
book -- and may that be VERY VERY SOON! And now to the faults themselves: To begin with, this book borrows from
other works just a little TOO heavily at times -- its beginning is strongly
reminiscent of "The Phantom Tollbooth" (by Norton Juster), and the events of
page 156 are just a little too similar to a certain incident in "The Wizard
Of Oz" for comfort ("I'm melting! I'm melting!"). It is also just a tad too
pat: just WHY, when so many other children have succumbed, should it be
*Harvey* who defeats the evil Mr. Hood??? But the first REAL concern is Harvey's AGE. This is important because kids
yearn to GROW UP. They HATE being "little" (with all that that implies) and
therefore PREFER TO READ ABOUT MAIN CHARACTERS THEIR OWN AGE OR OLDER --
kids they can *identify* with WITHOUT feeling "littler" than they already
are. Now, Harvey is TEN. So the main audience to this book -- whether Mr. Barker
intends it or not -- will be around that age, or perhaps a year or so younger. They can't be much older, because how many thirteen-year-olds
enjoy reading the exploits of a ten-year-old? Yet Barker's vocabulary is FAR too advanced for children this young; in
the first chapter ALONE, I find words like "smothering", "celebrated",
"trekking", "dwindled", "mythical", "spectacles", "lavish", "interloper",
"suede", "flatulent", "quizzically", "inquisitive", and "guaranteeing".
I doubt most nine- or ten-year-olds would know most of those words. Mr.
Barker has overestimated his reader's vocabulary. The next problem is Harvey's PERSONALITY. His readiness to be bored, his
attendant whininess, and his willingness to be lured away while on his
way to school -- by someone he has met but once previously and of whom he
knows absolutely nothing -- befits a child of (at MOST) only seven or eight
years old; yet the intelligence and ingenuity shown in solving some of the
puzzles arising later in the book befit a child far older than his stated
age of ten years. I found this to be both inconsistent and disconcerting;
I advise Mr. Barker to construct the personalities of his future child
characters with greater care. Lastly, (and this is just a nitpick) I'm bothered by Harvey's NAME; "Harvey
Swick" is hardly inspiring. "Swick" isn't so bad -- being a last name, it
doesn't arise often -- but "Harvey" is different. That's unusual enough for
me to think that kids may have trouble identifying with it. Remember the
episode of the old B&W sitcom, "The Honeymooners"? The "Harvey"'s of this
world get picked on in schoolyards. Were this a "kid vs. bully" story,
that'd be acceptable; but in a pure fantasy I'm not sure it is an asset.
Surely "Harry" would've been a better choice? Overall, a gripping story, tightly written; not without its flaws, but a
remarkable first effort. Bravo!!! To quote another famous author, "Please
Sir -- may we have some More?" ---End---
Rating:
Summary: A Page Turner
Review: Clive Barker writes another great book! Although this book is like a fairy tale, Barker's dark side is not completely left out. The story starts out with ten year old Harvey Swick being persuaded to go to The Holiday House on a promise that all of his boredom will vanish. To his surprise, the house offers everything that was promised to him and much much more. The turning point of the book is when the truth is revealed and Harvey realizes that the house is actually evil and that for every day spent at the house, a year had gone by in the real world. The climax is when Harvey trys to fight back towards the house.
I recommend this book to everyone. Although this book was aimed for children, it is liked by adults as well as children. This book can teach valuable lessons that should be with children and adults also.
Rating:
Summary: My favourite book ever!!
Review: I first read this book in 4th grade, over 7 years ago. It became the center of my reading world. I would read this book every other week just because it was so fantastic. The book is perfect for a child because of the "boo" type scares. But for adult audiences, this book is still very much worth picking up. It is in all honesty, one of the quickest reads ever (I can finish it in one sitting), but the book now holds new visions that I could not understand when I was a child. Clive Barker's The Thief of Always will always be one of my top 3 books of all time. BTW: Other recommendations in books, movies and games: Books:
The Sword of Truth
Any fantasy by David Eddings
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac Trade Paperback
Squee Trade Paperback
Anything by Clive Barker Games:
Silent Hill 1 & 2
Twisted Metal Black
Phantasmagoria 1 & 2
Clive Barker's Undying
American McGee's Alice Movies:
Hellraiser 1 & 2
Boondock Saints
The Crow
Dark City
Se7en
Jacob's Ladder
Rating:
Summary: Not just for kids!
Review: Clive Barker has done it again. He has succeeded in weaving a fantastical tale full of horror and surprises. Though the horror aspect is toned down, Barker fans will enjoy this new world and the colorful characters it holds.
Rating:
Summary: Can't keep this book on the shelf
Review: This was the first Clive Barker book I ever read. I first read this about 7 years ago. I had no idea who Clive Barker was. This book is excellent. It easily tops my list of favorite book. Clive Barker has a wonderful imagination and talent to be able to put this great story together. Since I first read this, I have read it at least 10 more times. This has prompted me to buy more of his books. I am in the middle of reading Weaveworld and I also bought The Inhuman Condition. I know that both of these books will be excellent as well. The Thief of Always is a "must read" book. It's a definate page turner!
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